People Moves Related to "The RIABiz list of winners and losers in the wake of the SEC's fiduciary study"
Headline
Publish date
With RIA valuations ticking down and successions ticking up, Focus Financial deep sixes 'drunken sailor' pause, forgoes buyback plan and adds a CEO
Aug 13, 2022CEO Rudy Adolf sees a 'softening' in multiples after a couple of frothy years when CI Financial dominated headlines and big RIA deals
Adam Birenbaum assumes the CEO hotseat at Focus Financial, becoming third chief executive in three years as Michael Nathanson steps down in 'plan' he 'designed'
Dec 13, 2025The 47 year-old St. Louis phenom takes over from the 58 year-old ex-Colony CEO but with the same steep challenge of making 70 autonomous RIA units work more collaboratively, while adding more RIAs.
The upper RIA echelon mass-exit is now at 25 execs and counting -- for 25 'reasons' -- but it's hardly a coincidence, analysts say
Jun 7, 2024Burnout and EBITDA weigh on CEO-types as never-ending exits claim Ron Carson, Aaron Klein, Bernie Clark, Rudy Adolf, Bill Crager and Tim Buckley.
Another A-list RIA Schwabbie lands on his feet -- this time at DeVoe & Co. -- after TD Ameritrade merger displacement of 2,000-plus
May 10, 2024Tony Parkin takes the reins as president of the San Francisco M&A shop and reunites with ex-Schwab boss who left 14 years ago
Adam Birenbaum's calls 'Colony' deal -- to create $100-billion super-RIA -- a 'mandate,' but it's also likely a 'prelude' to larger strategic objective, M&A expert says
May 7, 2024The 46-year-old CEO of Buckingham Wealth's 'long game' approach keeps paying dividends; it comes down to his approach to relationships
Michael Nathanson's new post as Focus CEO could create an 'apparent conflict' with his duties at Colony Group, which is snapping up billions in Focus RIA assets -- but 'partners' now have one of theirs in the power seat
May 1, 2024The CEO of Colony, the $22-billion Boston RIA, is buying $10.4-billion GW & Wade from Focus, making him buyer and seller, as he takes the reins as first permanent Focus CEO since Rudy Adolf.
DFA undergoes a sea change -- literally -- with a fancy yacht soirée, cigars and champagne as it attempts to sail away from its mutual fund image into the world of ETFs
Mar 13, 2024Having just about staunched net outflows with its embrace of ETFs, DFA is embarking on a cultural shift as it tries to figure out how to sell more, even though it's less unique than it used to be.
A canary in the coal mine, Amy Richardson left Charles Schwab & Co. for an RIA -- before the 2,000 layoffs -- now a robust job market is saving the Schwab diaspora, she says
Dec 20, 2023The former Schwab director wants former colleagues to know life exists after Schwab and good job opportunities are plentiful in the financial services sector.
Schwab 2,000-layoff aftershocks roil the industry as it's revealed top tech talent -- led by widely regarded veteran Kartik Srinivasan -- were axed, raising questions about future of Schwab innovation
Nov 3, 2023Behind every layoff a human story as pink slip to an 'unbelievable talent' epitomizes company's determination to cut $500 million in expenses.
Focus Financial makes 'abrupt' CEO call, lets Rudy Adolf go into 'retirement,' with 'no solution in place;' the eighth RIA chief executive unseated since June as VCs move in -- where is the EBITDA?
Oct 24, 2023Clayton, Dubilier & Rice closed on its $7-billion purchase of the roll-up on Aug. 31 -- with no hint that its parting of the ways with legendary 60-year-old founder was in the offing.
Charles Schwab Corp. discloses imminent, sweeping 'TD Ameritrade' layoffs, indirectly revealed in new SEC filing that reports it will expense severance mostly in 2023 to gain 'incremental' $500 million synergy in 2024 and beyond
Aug 22, 2023The Westlake, Texas, firm had not previously disclosed the cost of terminations -- people and offices -- or that so many of the farewells will happen by Dec. 30
Charles 'Chuck Schwab' called James Gorman to protest a two-broker poach, kicking off a hydra-headed legal battle, costing Morgan Stanley millions, so far
Mar 9, 2023The Schwab founder and chairman invoked Charles Schwab Corp.'s zero-tolerance policy against Wall Street -- or RIA -- poaching of talent and AUM from Schwab branches.
Why FINRA's late appearance into smoothie-throwing broker James Iannazzo's life might be rough
Dec 29, 2022It's been about 11 months since Merrill Lynch fired him, and the CFP Board stripped him of the CFP mark; attracting the SRO's attention means more woes.
Biz Briefs: SEC cracks down anew on RIA reverse churning ~ Envestnet borrows $350 million to buy its own stock ~ Fidelity is creating a crypto waiting list while exec questions crypto ecosystem
Nov 18, 2022Fed up SEC is ready to take on all nonsense at once; stock shocks, Orwell's new name game; Fidelity hosts a line dance
Apex nabs Jon Patullo from 'Schwabitrade' to 'raise the bar' and make his new firm's RIA system as 'frictionless' as the old one
Oct 11, 2022The loved and admired TD Ameritrade software chief will bring his playbook -- and possibly Schwab's -- to Apex, which continues to try putting a winning front-end on its old Penson backend, a source says
Robinhood gets 'brilliant' upper manager -- and a spare CEO -- by nabbing TD Ameritrade's ex-thinkorswim top exec, hopefully to throw a lifesaver to Robinhood's sinking stock
Jan 6, 2022The Menlo Park, Calif., firm nabbed Steve Quirk as first-ever chief brokerage officer to 'bridge the gap between academia and reality.'
Oisín's snippets: Charles Schwab brand goes up on Omaha's TD Ameritrade stadium, home of college baseball world series • Interactive Brokers lands an RIA custody insider, Charlie Latimer, to climb the custodian ladder
Dec 27, 2021The TDA brand lives on until the techies figure out how to make two systems into one, but change is in the air in Omaha, while Interactive Brokers gets a leg up in the custody business with a new hire.
Looking past Covid-19 pandemic, Louisiana RIA buys $1-million building after hitting $1 billion in AUM and hiring the town's mayor
Dec 17, 2020Summit Financial Wealth Advisors was sold to Focus Financial in 2014, growing its assets by $400 million since then but keeping staffing about the same
Goldman Sachs nabs TD Ameritrade's Darla Sipolt for RIA custody; Kate Healy, Jim Dario and Peter Dorsey are among 1,000 staffers cut by Schwab post TD merger
Oct 27, 2020Included in the wholesale reduction of the Omaha, Neb.-based broker's redundant talent, about 40% of TD Ameritrade's marketing staff also got word today they have no future with their San Francisco-based owner
Skip Schweiss exit from TD Ameritrade means the RIA custody business lost its most visible corporate-paid advocate -- for the moment
Aug 5, 2020TD's now ex-managing director of advisor advocacy is set to become the FPA president, but most peers agree the 58-year-old is poised to 'write his ticket' with another custodian or national RIA
Envestnet nabs Dani Fava to cross-pollinate semi-autonomous units and reap 'financial wellness' as the end product
Jul 23, 2020The Chicago outsourcer has a massive, partially disconnected arsenal of products that CEO Bill Crager is rationalizing into 'wellness' with yet another new unit.
Mark Tibergien sets up Ben Harrison to challenge Schwabitrade with a $150 million cut to Pershing's minimum and millions more to develop Veo-busting technology
Mar 11, 2020The CEO suite hand-off in Jersey City pulls a trigger on a plan to bypass Fidelity's and eventually Schwab's custody units by luring disaffected RIAs.
FPA keeps adding coaches to its pro-bono roster but quid pro quo makes the medicine go down as mom-and-pop consultants help mom-and-pop advisors
Aug 2, 2019Charesse Hagan is the latest to join Financial Planning Association's 'Coaches Corner' which 'gives back' to the community, but coaches also can leverage volunteer work into paid gigs
Walt Bettinger axes current and former Schwab retail chiefs, Terri Kallsen and Andy Gill; funnels responsibilities to Jonathan Craig, for now
Jul 24, 2019The Schwab CEO is 'restructuring,' which includes cutting the Chairman's Club program that sent 200 top performers to Hawaii on a free junket
TD Ameritrade's board suddenly pushes out Tim Hockey after his big misread of RIAs; Tom Bradley name-dropped as successor
Jul 23, 2019The CEO broke the TD promise never to compete with RIAs, took it back and got sent packing
RIA in a Box gunning for top-notch staff as it readies for Aquiline-fueled roll-up binge, targeting old-school, mom-and-pop compliance competitors
Nov 29, 2018With Ascensus also in its portfolio, Aquiline is showing a penchant for taking dull, fragmented, unloved wealth-management niche businesses and rolling them up into sexier firms